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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kichwas" data-source="post: 1074318" data-attributes="member: 891">You can have a -LOT- of fun with this one. Just a realworld case in point:Korean and I suspect Japanese men touch , hold hands, hug, lean on each other, and maintain very close contact among friends in both public and private. This tends to confuse the heck out of male western tourists and expats who think all the Korean men are trying to -pick up on them-, and then seriously confuses the Korean when the westerner gives a very innapropriate response such as reacting violently or -taking them up on the offer-.In fact Koreans don't have a concept of -personal body space- and people will casually stand right in your face to were they are rubbing up against you and talk or just be there. They don't think twice about it and are not even aware, but it tends to put every red flag an American has on alert.Likewise, in walking in public, you don't have to keep saying 'excuse me' every 2.3 seconds like you do in the west -you can just plow through the sea of bodies and push people out of the way just enough to squeeze through. Everyone just ignores the inconvenience and goes on.It's also considered rude to introduce people who don't know each other if two persons meet in public and have others with them who have no reason to be introduced to each other. The reason for this is simple - once you're introduced to someone you have a social burden to place yourself into the right ranking relative to them and take on a number of pieces of ettiquite. If you haven't been introduced you don't exist to them and they don't exist to you so you can be comfortable in your own skin - they aren't really there yet. So the best thing to do when your companion runs into someone is to stand to side for a few moments while they go through the proper motions of excusing themselves from that person who they have some social obligation to aknowledge. Then you all move on and if you desire you can find some way to ask to be introduced later at a proper time and condition.That brings me to one more found in all confuscian based societies: equality as a sin. It is considered extremley base and low class to treat anyone as your equal. Everyone is ranked by age, gender, class, career, exploits, and a variety of other factors. The first thing you do upon meeting someone is size each other and find your proper place. The lower person then switches to the dialog used to speak up to someone, and the higher person switches to the dialog used to speak down to someone. A person who ignores this protocol is a social pariah wether they do it to their betters or their lessers - both will find it insulting to be put in the wrong camp. The very idea of equality is seen as something that will destroy the fabric of society and lead to chaos.In such a society diplomacy and sense motive are vital skills - as you have to generally dictate to your lessers but at the same time do so correctly, meeting their needs and keeping them satisfied. Many of the behaivoirs given to bluff however could land you in trouble.</blockquote>

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